5 Best Monday Columns

Robert Samuelson
on the Homeownership 'Fetish' The relentless promotion of homeownership
has crossed the line from being a "sensible goal" to becoming a "foolish
fetish," argues
The Washington Post columnist. While the amount of homeowners has
dramatically increased since 1940 and these owners are now occupying
bigger and better quality houses, the government has made a habit of
subsidizing high-income borrowers. This practice is both unfair and
unnecessary. "In an ideal world, we would discard failed policies. We
would trim or end the mortgage-interest tax deduction," Samuelson
writes. " The consequences need not be dire." But suddenly withdrawing
support from government-sponsored enterprises like Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac might only deepen the housing recession.

Neal Gabler on Disincentivizing Greed In a Los Angeles Times op-ed contribution,
the Woodrow Wilson public policy scholar details the problems with
"nearly all" attempts at real financial reform. Tracing the history of
such reform from the passage of the Glass-Steagall Act
in 1933 to its repeal in 1999, he explains why such laws can never
account for human nature and greed. "We now live in a country that seems
to worship wealth, and we may just have to live with the consequences,"
Gabler writes. "The alternative is regulation that goes to the source
by raising those marginal tax rates (and capital gains taxes) and
forcing the super-rich to merely be rich again. And honestly, that's not
going to happen."

Ahmed Rasid on Europe's Fear of a Petraeus
Surge European governments have been "haunted" by the possibility
of Gen. Petraeus calling for an additional surge of troops to bolster
the war effort in Afghanistan, notes
Ahmed Rasid at the Financial Times. These states are facing increased
pressure to draw down or completely withdraw their troops, but don't
want to necessarily "cut and run" because it could not only damage
Afghanistan but tarnish the credibility of NATO. "European officials are
coming to the consensus ... to reach a position where negotiating with
the Taliban is the political strategy around which military strategy is
determined." General Petraeus, Rasid reports, wants to convince
officials "to do just the opposite, determining withdrawals on the basis
of the military, not the political, situation."

Timothy Carney
on the Republican Divide There's a schism developing in the Republican
Party between Tea Party true believers and K Street insiders, contends
Carney in The Washington Examiner. Bob Dole's recent $1,000 donation to
a Charlie Crist--a "non-Republican"--in the Florida senate race is
representative of the "fundamental split within the Republican Party."
It can be broken down, Carney argues, into two fundamental factions:
"Team Lott" (the insiders, named after Senator-turned-lobbyist Trent
Lott) and "Team DeMint" (named after current South Carolina firebrand
Jim DeMint). Team DeMint's aggressiveness--especially against the money
and influence of D.C.--turns off Team Lott. "To the K Street wing,"
explains Carney, "the Tea Party types are like the guy who's playing too
hard in a co-ed softball game."

Richard Just on Obama's Gay
Marriage Hedge The Obama administration's schizophrenic position on LGBT
rights should give the nation pause, argues
The New Republic's Richard Just. In examining the president's public
statements on gay rights dating back to 1996, Just observes "a pattern
that can only be described as illogical and cynical." Just fails to see
the point--moral or political--in Obama "[arguing] that he is against
gay marriage while also opposing efforts like Prop 8 that would ban it."
By resorting to legalese to explain his position (lots of talk about
state constitutions and the like), argues Just, Obama is lagging behind history in a fashion that tends, historically, to look bad.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.

We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.

Ray Gustini is the author of Lucky Town, a forthcoming book about sports in Washington, D.C. He is a former staff writer for The Atlantic Wire.